RootsMagic just introduced a new Version 11 in Introducing RootsMagic 11: Smarter, Simpler, and More Powerful.
There is an introduction YouTube video here:
1) What's new or modified? Check the blog post and the video for more details and examples. What I noticed was:
- The Workspace views have changed a bit - away from icons to words (which I prefer!)
- There is a new LifeSummary panel on the Search Menu to reduce clicks.
- Better editing and searching features
- An AI Prompt Builder to help you write a life story
- Improved reports
2) Of course, I am interested in the new AI (Artificial Intelligence) Prompt Builder feature and its result.
a) On the People Workspace and Family View for my father, I clicked on Lists and saw the "AI Prompt Builder" on the dropdown menu:
The user has choices to make for Role, Task, Audience and Options. I chose:
- Role = Professional Genealogist
- Task = Draft a narrative biography
- Audience = General public
- Options = 1500 words, no fake info, include history and plain text format)
c) Then I clicked the "Build Prompt" button on the bottom right of the panel and saw:
I added a name for this Prompt. It wrote a prompt and for the Data to Include I chose Primary Name only, All events, and checked the boxes for spouses, children, parents and siblings. The full Monte!
d) I clicked Save:
It wrote the requested Prompt to write a biography of my father. I clicked the "Copy prompt to clipboard to paste into AI" button.
3) I went to the (FREE) AI X Grok 3 tool for this exercise (use the one you want to use).
a) I "pasted" the text from the clipboard to the prompt field:
It added everything I asked for (not shown completely above).
b) So I clicked on the up arrow on the bottom right to set Grok off on its' task. It took about 20 seconds to finish!
Here's the top of the biography:
c) I clicked the "Copy text" button on the bottom of the web page (not shown above) and here is the biography provided by Grok 3 based on the RootsMagic AI Prompt requested (which was based on the names, events, dates, places, etc. of my RootsMagic database):
Frederick Walton "Fred" Seaver Jr. was born on October 15, 1911, in Fitchburg, Worcester County, Massachusetts. Fitchburg, a manufacturing hub along the Nashua River, thrived in the early 20th century on industries like paper mills and railroads, which connected it to Boston and Albany. The city employed many European immigrants in its factories, contributing to the region's economic growth amid national trends of industrialization and urban expansion.
Fred was the son of Frederick Walton Seaver, born in 1876, and Alma Bessie Richmond, born in 1882. He had six siblings: older sisters Marion Frances Seaver (1901–2000) and Evelyn Seaver (1903–1978); a brother Stanley Richmond Seaver (1905–1910), who died in infancy; another older sister Ruth Weston Seaver (1907–2000); a younger brother Edward Richmond Seaver (1913–2004); and a younger sister Geraldine Seaver (1917–2007).
From his birth until 1915, the Seaver family resided at 116 Lawrence Street in Fitchburg. In 1915, they relocated to Leominster, another Worcester County city known for its early 20th-century manufacturing boom, particularly in textiles and later plastics, fueled by the Fitchburg Railroad's expansion. The move aligned with broader patterns of family migration within the industrial corridor of northern Worcester County, where railroads facilitated worker mobility and economic ties to Boston. The family settled at 290 Central Street in Leominster, where they remained until 1929.
Fred's early religious upbringing occurred at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Leominster. He was baptized there on April 7, 1912, and confirmed on March 28, 1926. The Episcopal Church in the region reflected the era's blend of traditional New England Protestantism and growing immigrant influences, as Massachusetts communities navigated the social changes of the Progressive Era, including labor reforms and women's suffrage, which culminated in the 19th Amendment's ratification in 1920.
The 1920 U.S. Census, taken on January 1, recorded the Seavers at 290 Central Street in Enumeration District 102. By September 1925, Fred had begun his education at Leominster High School, attending through June 1927. Leominster High, established in the early 1900s, served a growing student body from the city's industrial families, emphasizing both academic and vocational training amid the Roaring Twenties' economic prosperity and cultural shifts like the rise of automobiles and radio.
In 1927, Fred graduated from Leominster High School. The family then moved to 20 Hall Street in Leominster, where they lived from 1929 to 1933. The 1930 U.S. Census on April 1 captured them in Enumeration District 226 at that address. That June, Fred completed his studies at Worcester Academy in Worcester, Massachusetts. Founded in 1834, the academy in the 1930s offered rigorous college preparatory education to students from across New England, preparing them for Ivy League institutions during a time when Massachusetts grappled with the onset of the Great Depression, including widespread unemployment in manufacturing centers like Worcester.
From September 1932 to June 1933, Fred attended Dartmouth College in Hanover, Grafton County, New Hampshire. Dartmouth, a private Ivy League school, enrolled around 2,000 undergraduates in the early 1930s, with a student body drawn largely from the Northeast's middle and upper classes. The campus emphasized liberal arts and extracurriculars like athletics and debating societies, set against the backdrop of national economic hardship following the 1929 stock market crash, which led to federal relief programs under President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal starting in 1933.
After leaving Dartmouth, Fred returned to Leominster, residing at 90 Main Street from June 1933 to December 1940. The 1940 U.S. Census on April 1 listed him at 918 Main Street in Leominster, where he held an occupation in the city, though specifics are not detailed. That same census also recorded him at the Newton YMCA in Newton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, possibly indicating temporary lodging during work or travel. On October 16, 1940, he registered for the military draft in Leominster, as required by the Selective Training and Service Act amid rising global tensions leading to U.S. involvement in World War II.
In December 1940, Fred moved to San Diego, California, a coastal city transforming from a naval outpost into a wartime industrial center. San Diego's population surged with military buildup, as the U.S. Navy expanded bases there following the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack, drawing workers from across the country. He lived in San Diego until July 1942.
From 1942 to 1944, Fred worked as a clerk at Rohr Aircraft in Chula Vista, San Diego County. Founded in 1940, Rohr Aircraft grew rapidly during the war, employing thousands—including women in factories—to produce aircraft parts like engine mounts and fuselages, contributing to the Allied effort in the Pacific Theater. The company's expansion helped swell Chula Vista's population from 4,000 in 1940 to nearly 30,000 by 1955.
During this period, Fred resided at 577 Twin Oaks Avenue in Chula Vista. On July 12, 1942, Fred married Betty Virginia Carringer, born in 1919, at All Saints Episcopal Church in San Diego. Their union continued the family's Episcopal tradition, common among East Coast transplants in California's burgeoning defense communities. The couple had three sons: Randall Jeffrey "Randy" Seaver, born in 1943; Stanley Richmond Seaver, born in 1946; and Scott Frederick Seaver, born in 1955.
In October 1944, amid the height of World War II, Fred entered military service, serving until February 1946. His service records do not specify branch or role, but it coincided with California's massive wartime mobilization, where over 800,000 residents served in the armed forces, and the state produced 17% of U.S. aircraft.
In February 1946, following Japan's surrender in 1945 and the war's end, he was stationed at the U.S. Navy Base on Terminal Island, San Pedro, Los Angeles County, California, for discharge processing. The postwar period brought economic reconversion challenges, including strikes and housing shortages, as veterans like Fred returned under the GI Bill, which aided education and home loans.
From February 1946 to 1947, Fred and his family lived at 2114 Fern Street in San Diego. In 1947, he began a long-term occupation in San Diego, continuing until 1971, though the exact nature is unspecified; it likely tied to the city's postwar boom in aerospace, tourism, and naval industries.
The family settled at 2119 30th Street, residing there from 1947 to 1978. The 1950 U.S. Census on April 1 confirmed them at that address. San Diego's population doubled to over 550,000 by 1950, driven by military expansions like the completion of the San Diego Aqueduct in 1947, which brought Colorado River water and supported suburban growth.
City directories listed the family at 2119 30th Street in 1966. The 1950s and 1960s saw San Diego evolve with Cold War defense contracts, freeway construction, and cultural shifts, including the 1964 state approval for northern California water delivery to the south, easing growth strains.
In 1978, Fred and Betty moved to 825 Harbor View Place in San Diego, where they lived until May 1983. This relocation reflected the era's trend toward coastal retirement communities amid California's economic diversification into technology and services during the 1970s energy crisis and 1980s Reagan-era recovery.
Fred died on May 26, 1983, in San Diego at age 71. His obituary appeared on May 28, 1983, in a San Diego publication. He was buried at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego, a site honoring military veterans overlooking the Pacific, symbolizing his contributions to the nation's defense. Betty outlived him until 2002.
Fred's life spanned pivotal American transitions—from New England's industrial heartland to California's wartime and postwar frontier—marked by family stability and service in an era of global conflict and domestic renewal.
4) I noted that it included every relative and event requested, and added historical information to many paragraphs. It did not include Sources, Media, Event Notes or General Notes because those were not available RootsMagic options (maybe in a later version?).
I wonder how much different it would be for a Blog Author (or other Role)? I wonder what the output would be like for a young adult (or other Audience)? I wonder how much more content would be added for a higher Word Limit? I wonder what the Create a WordSearch Game (Task) looks like?
I could save the text above and insert it into the Person Notes in RootsMagic, or into a word processing document for a person, or a number of persons (say, my Seaver line).
So it is not perfect, but for a "starter" biography it is very good. If a genealogy researcher wants to write a narrative biography for their ancestors, this is a pretty good way to do it.
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Disclosure: I have been a RootsMagic user since about 2008 and recently am using RootsMagic 10. I bought the upgrade to RootsMagic 11 ($19.95) at 12 noon today, downloaded the program, inserted the registration key, and converted my RootsMagic 10 database to RootsMagic 11 seamlessly. Then I did the above while writing this blog post. It's now 1:30 p.m.
Copyright (c) 2025, Randall J. Seaver
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